Q926: What is football disorder and can anything be done to prevent it?

Football disorder, more commonly known as hooliganism, is the violent and aggressive behaviour associated with football fans. This can include vandalism and getting into fights with supporters of the opposite team - either before, during or after the football match. This can intimidate other supporters and cause an unfriendly atmosphere.

Football clubs do their best to ensure safety measures are in place to deal with/prevent football disorder. One way of doing so is to issue a football banning order. These are civil orders that can ban an individual from attending football matches for a period of time - this will be decided on each set of circumstances. These can be issued when the person has got previous convictions for violence at football matches. Breaching an order can result in imprisonment and/or a fine.